Traditions beginning with Z
21 traditions under Z.
🇵🇱 Poland and 5 moreZaduszkiZaduszki, Dzień Zaduszny
A Polish day of prayer for the dead on 2 November, kept with candles at the gravesSpiritual
🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreZaffaزفّة
A musical wedding procession common in Arab cultures, featuring music and dancing.Festival
🇱🇧 Lebanon and 5 moreZajalزجل
Half-sung Arabic poetry in colloquial speech, traded as a duel between improvising poetsPerformance
🇭🇷 Hvar, CroatiaZa križen
A night procession on Hvar island where six villages walk simultaneously to honor the cross.Spiritual
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreZakuskiзакуски
A laid-out table of cold small dishes that opens a Russian festive mealTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇦🇷 Salta, Argentina and 3 moreZamba
A graceful Argentine couple dance of circling steps and fluttering white handkerchiefsPerformance
🇧🇯 Porto-Novo, Benin and 3 moreZangbeto
A traditional security institution and night-guardian cult among the Ogu people of West Africa.Ceremony
🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaZangfu脏腑
The traditional Chinese medical model of interconnected organ networks and vital energyFolklore
🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaZangfu臟腑 (simplified 脏腑; zàngfǔ)
A Chinese medicine view of organs as networks of qi, blood and five phasesFolklore
🇨🇳 Beijing, ChinaZangfu脏腑
A traditional Chinese model of internal organs as paired networks of energy and functionFolklore
🇹🇿 Zanzibar City, TanzaniaZanzibar International Film Festival
An annual ten-day arts, music and cinema gathering held across Zanzibar.Performance
🇷🇸 Serbia and 2 moreZapisзапис
A consecrated village tree marked with a cross, venerated in Serbian folk traditionSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇸 Valencia, Spain and 1 moreZaragüellessarāwīl (Andalusi Arabic), saragüells (Valencian)
Wide, pleated breeches of Andalusian origin, worn as traditional dress in parts of Spain and Morocco.Dress
🇮🇷 Iran and 4 moreZardoziزردوزی (zarduzi)
Heavy gold and silver embroidery on silk or velvet, worked in Iran, India and beyondCraft
🇮🇱 Safed, Israel and 2 moreZemirotזמירות
Jewish table hymns sung during the three meals of Shabbat and holidaysSpiritual · Dinner
🇿🇲 Lundazi, ZambiaZengani
An annual October gathering of Tumbuka and Ngoni communities in eastern Zambia to celebrate unity through traditional daFestival
🇮🇱 Israel and 5 moreZeved habatזֶבֶד הַבָּת
A Jewish naming ceremony for newborn girls, kept by Sephardi, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi communities.Rite of passage
🇱🇻 Riga, LatviaZiemassvētki
Latvia's midwinter festival of solstice customs, mumming and tree decorationSeasonal
🇮🇳 IndiaZoroastrian wedding
A multi-day Zoroastrian ceremony uniting two people through prayers, rituals and a shared meal.Rite of passage · Dinner
🇨🇮 Abidjan, Ivory Coast and 3 moreZouglou
A dance-led music style from Ivory Coast, sung in street slang and local languagesPerformance
🇳🇱 Amsterdam, Netherlands and 3 moreZwarte Piet
Saint Nicholas's companion in the Low Countries, who hands out sweets to childrenFolklore · Sweets given and shared
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Zemirot: ביקורת, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Zajal: 13th century artist, Public domain, source
- Zardozi: Zarood, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Zanzibar International Film Festival: Peter Bennett / ZIFF, CC BY 2.0, source
- Zaragüelles: Isidoro Marín Garés, Public domain, source
- Zangbeto: Grete Howard, CC BY 3.0, source
- Zaduszki: Ivan Mrkvička, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Zangfu: Foristslow, CC BY 4.0, source
- Zwarte Piet: The illustrator is Daan Hoeksma, who died in 1935. The author is liste, Public domain, source
- Zakuski: Timothy Post, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Zeved habat: I.am.a.qwerty, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Za križen: E.mil.mil, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Zapis: Zblagojevic, CC BY-SA 4.0, source